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The find has raised the question of whether the greenstone was taken there during the war by a New Zealander when the 75 (NZ) Squadron of the Royal Air Force was based at Mepal from June 1943 to July 1945.

Radio operator and gunner Rhodes, who was later made a commissioned officer, was awarded the Distinguished Flying Medal for his brave actions after his plane dropped bombs on Hamburg during a night raid in July 1943.

Anti-aircraft fire had ripped a hole in his plane's fuselage and damaged the crew communication system, according to Rhodes' medal citation, published in the Herald in October 1943.

"While the captain was endeavouring to outmanoeuvre an enemy fighter Flight-Sergeant Rhodes attempted to make personal contact with the bomber's gunners.

"Although a gap had been torn in the floor of the aircraft, he crossed it to assure himself of his comrades' welfare."

He went on to fix the communication system.

Son Keith Rhodes, of Warkworth, said his father, who died in 1986, rarely spoke of his wartime experiences, but he did talk of repairing the wiring to the rear gunner's intercom and the plane's damaged hydraulic control system.

While negotiating the gaping hole in the plane he dropped his parachute - and a torch, which he could see as it began falling. In retelling the story Alan Rhodes had said he hoped the torch might hit a German.

Keith Rhodes believes the crash was on the return from the same operation and happened at Mepal.